Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews has welcomed tough new action to target spiking as the festive season gets into full swing across Rutland and Leicestershire.

Spiking is when someone puts alcohol or drugs into another person's drink or body without their consent or knowledge.

The Home Office announcement that a crackdown on the crime is in the works will see more training for door staff and improved education for young people to make them aware of the risks. It will be backed by coordinated police action to crackdown on spiking during key weeks during the year.

The Commissioner has repeatedly called for tougher measures to tackle spiking while supporting projects designed to protect people from being assaulted in this way.

The Home Office has now announced its plans to modernise legislation and carry out further research into self-testing kits as part of a raft of measures to improve understanding of spiking and deliver better support to victims.

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland PCC Mr Matthews said: "I strongly support these changes. Spiking is a predatory and abhorrent crime, and it is vital that perpetrators understand that such behaviour will be treated with the utmost severity.

"I welcome the improved legislative clarity being proposed and the emphasis on prevention. By arming our night-time economy staff with the training and tools needed to better support victims, we will prevent further crimes from occurring including sexual violence.

"I also support the investment in testing kits to retrieve evidence quickly and help bring more offenders to justice. This will inevitably increase confidence among future victims to come forward and report their experiences."

Mr Matthews has invested significant budget funding into projects that directly address spiking or support a safer night-time economy across the force area. This supports his Police and Crime Plan priority to tackle violence and make the night time economy safer.

Alongside funding the roll-out of thousands of anti-spiking covers for drinks across universities and neighbourhood policing areas, the PCC provided £9k to the Safer North West Leicestershire Community Safety Partnership (SNWL) to commission education provider Knowledge is Power (KISP) to deliver street-based interventions with young people to address exploitation. Support covered a range of issues including spiking and healthy relationships.

In further support, he invested £15k to support Leicester Business Improvement District's (BID) work on the Best Bar None scheme, supporting engagement with up to 90 licensed premises to ensure staff throughout the city have processes in place and are better equipped to intervene and prevent crimes relating to the night-time economy.

Elsewhere, the Commissioner provided £20k in funding to boost first aid provision in Leicester City Centre, enabling Leicester BID to commission additional first aid sessions from St Johns Ambulance to cover high priority night-time economy days including pay day weekends, bank holidays and key festivals to provide urgent care faster and avoid unnecessary A&E attendances.

The project aims to help prevent crime by treating people who have become vulnerable through drink or drugs, and ensuring safe passage home, to reduce the risk of these individuals becoming victims or perpetrators of crime.